It was enough time for Assassin to make a quick decision.. and act on it.

As 'Silvanus' was making due with some sort of attack, Assassin crouched to the ground and performed a quick dematerialization, rematerializing several feet into the area.
He was prepared to make another swift jump to the men.. though he made sure that he was out of the line of fire between either of the sides.

His blade was already out...
(Unless there's some sort of outright block on this ability..)

Hearing the word "portal" draws Idran's attention from the papers, and he notices the apparant gate in the closet. Seeing the landscape beyond, he realizes he might not be as useless as he thought. Trying to outpace the mage, he attempts to cast a Hold spell on him, to keep him from closing the portal, temporary as such an action may be.

Attention diverted from his find, Petty backed away from the closet, almost sure that some sort of large, explosive spell would detonate there any second. Axe away, and bow in hand, he notched an arrow and waited, edging his way over so he could see inside.

The hold spell coiled about the mage in an instant, interrupting him mid-gesture. One hand resting on the chess board, he looked faintly ridiculous. Silvanus's ice breath washed over the pair as Assassin phased onto the scene. Wherever the place was, it must be close for him to reach it without passing through the portal.

The wash of ice struck Jin squarely, sending him reeling. Unfortunately, it seemed to halt a few inches from the mage, held at bay by his own abilities.

The mage wasn't done yet. As Siolen stepped through the portal on Silvanus's heels, a bright glow spread from his hand over the chess set, engulfing the pieces. Even as it faded, the pieces came to life, jumping down from the board and making for the intruders.

Two words issued from the mage's lips - "The Dragon." Face pale, Jin seized him by the collar and dragged him ignominiously towards the statue, shouting for the guards.

He checked his position, first. If he was not in the portal already, he corrected this issue by entering it directly, since the attempt to close the portal had not been finished.

Once his position was insured, he ignored Jin for the time being and looked back to the pieces. He was curious to see if the entire chessboard had jumped to life. And, if so, which pieces were closer than others. A Knight and a Rook would be bad news for him..

Jaeko rushed in after the others, keeping his gun raised. Eyeing the dragon, then the chess peices, he seemed to not know which would be the better target. However, the chess peices freaked him out ALOT more, so in the end, he pointed his gun twards them, and prepared to fire if they got any closer.

"Not bad," the mage said, "though your logic is slightly off." He was interrupted by a sharp hiss from Jin, who was sent tumbling to the ground by the arrow embedded in his leg.

Meanwhile, the chess pieces had organised themselves into two sides, in keeping with their nature. They had, unfortunately, managed to set aside their mutual animosity, and the black side was closing in on Silvanus while the white side headed for Idran. On the one hand, there were 32 of them. On the other, the largest was a mere six inches tall.

A motion at the the door of Jin's room revealed that the noise of breaking the door down had indeed attracted attention. The barkeep and a couple of burly individuals who probably served as bouncers stared in.

"Enough of this," the mage said, and snapped out an unintelligible word. The spatial bonds holding him shattered, and he climbed awkwardly to his feet. "Tell me what it is you want and we shall see if we can come to some sort of arrangement."

Petty kept his bow trained on the mage, who'd identified himself as a crackpot. The other man wouldn't be going anywhere fast with an arrow in his leg. For the moment, though, it seemed possible that the hostilities needn't be continued any further. They had them outnumbered and at the disadvantage, and if they gave themselves up they'd probably get better treatment from whoever tried them for banditry.

Assassin kept a stance close to the chess pieces, believing them to be the more dangerous opponent. The fact that they were all focusing on a single one of his companions meant that he could attack them with ease..

Well, to be fair, he had an eye on the Mage and comrade as well. What they could honestly do from here was unknown to him..

While he was hoping for a peaceful solution from here on out, he knew the likelihood of these men willingly accepting a good stint in a cell was slim at best. If they had an ace up their sleeve, they'd use it, and Jin's eyes were betraying his hopes to the archer.

Making sure he kept his bow trained on the injured man, Petty's eyes flickered up to the roof tops, then back to Jin, then back to the rooftops. He meant to keep an eye on both of them, although he'd prefer not to divide his attention.

Raising his shotgun again, Jaeko waited for a desicion to be made. He would agree with Petty, had his thoughts been voiced- but it appeared neither of them would be pointing it out. However, he planned to be ready when something did happen.

At least, that was the visual aspect of it. Mentally, Silvanus was already making his move, sending a quick thought via telepathy to Jaeko, "Just from the way that guy's talking, I know he's going to do something we can't stop."

"I shall call them off." With these words, the chess pieces retreated back towards the mage's feet, forming themselves into the neat, orderly ranks in which they would ordinarily start a game. Of course, left unspoken was the implication that they would be ready to attack at a moment's notice, should it be required.

Petty, during one of his glances up at the roof, saw a head ducking out of sight behind the edge. The person had been just a bit slow.

"And just how," Siolen said, "Is he supposed to lead us anywhere if he can't even walk? We all go together." Today seemed to be the day for unspoken implications. This time, it was that Siolen would have the mage nice and close to hand if anything went wrong.

The mage blinked at Petty's statement, then looked up. His eyes went slightly out of focus as he checked the astral plane for auras. "Oh, go home, you pack of worthless fools," he said after a few moments, "What are you trying to do, get us both killed? You can have your leader back after we've resolved this."

"Honestly Jin," he continued, turning to his earstwhile colleague, "The punctuality of your men leaves a great deal to be desired."

Jin glared at him for a few moments, "Screw you too, Keshin," he said, before turning to regard the three heads now sticking up over the edge of the roof, "Get back to camp. I'll meet you there."

With a nod, the heads disappeared.

"Are there any other issues that anyone feels the need to raise?" Keshin asked.

Though he is a bit worried about the giant monster statue still, Idran decides to keep quiet, not wanting to push things too much. He continues to watch Jin and Keshin closely, keeping an eye out for any sign of a trap.

Jaeko shook his head- He was never much for removing dangerous stuff from someone's body- Oh, no. His specialty was putting in there to begin with. Instead, he just made sure his shotgun remained visable through the ordeal, as to remind everyone who needed to be reminded as to who was in control of the situation.

Jin seemed to be eliciting a distinct lack of sympathy from all concerned, including his partner. "You can get it fixed when we're gone," Siolen said, "In the meantime, your friend here can help you."

Soon afterwards, the group set out, chess pieces in the lead where everyone could see them. Jin and Keshin followed, with an array of pointy implements at their backs ensuring there would be no treachery.

At length, they arrived at a door, which Keshin opened somewhat awkwardly. The room within was empty, save for a geometric design inlaid into the floor.

"That portal will take us to him," Keshin said, indicating the design. Siolen, for her part, regarded it with extreme suspicion.

"Right. Straight into your friend's little army," she said sarcastically.

"So you only send one person through and strangle me if they don't come back. Do I have to think of everything?"

Rather than speak up to those two, however, he quietly sent his thoughts in Siolen's direction. "He's definitely leading us into a trap. If it comes down to enforcing that, I'll go, but I'd rather have this dealt with another way."

He paused and added as an afterthought - quite literally in this case - "If I had ideas, I'd say them, but I'm certainly not the one with the ideas here."

Siolen nodded almost imperceptibly at this, "He's got something up his sleeve alright," she replied, "Unfortunately, we need the bastard alive, and he knows it. That gives him the upper hand to start with."

Idran, for his part, could tell that the portal had its destination set some fifty miles southwest. Oddly, there was also a faint trace of a second destination, as if the portal had been overlaid atop an older one. The best he could tell about this one was that the destination was a considerable distance to the west.

Idran looks up after his casting, and addresses the group on his findings.

"Well, it _feels_ like a real portal, at least. Looks like it leads about 50 miles away. Towards the...southwest. But I'm getting a bit of an odd feeling from it, like there's another portal here too, but more...buried. Or covered."

Everything seemed to happen at once. Keshin pivoted in a smooth motion and shoved Jin at Jaeko, sending both down in a heap and eliciting a shriek of pain from the bandit. At the same time, the chess pieces attacked, stabbing at the ankles of Idran and Assassin. Quite aside from the damage inflicted, this distracted them for critical seconds.

Keshin used those seconds to take a running leap at the portal, reaching up to touch the ceiling.

(Silvanus and Petty get to make actions, the others are rather distracted at the moment.)

Perhaps it was the hurried nature of the shot, or perhaps Keshin was far nimbler on his feet than he looked. In any case, the arrow zipped straight past him, sticking harmlessly in the wall.

Silvanus had slightly better fortune. The blast of ice seemed to split in two as it neared the fleeing mage, passing harmlessly around him. Unfortunately for Keshin, there was still the small matter of the icy sheen which now covered the floor around him.

Precious seconds were taken up getting his balance back before he could make the final leap. Siolen used that time to good advantage, tackling him in mid-air just as his hand brushed the ceiling.

Lines of white light blazed across the ceiling, forming a geometric pattern similar, but not identical to, the pattern on the floor. The pair vanished into the newly activated portal.

Following them ought to be fairly easy, once they got rid of those blasted chess pieces. Just how did one defeat an animated chess set, anyway?

Doubting his ability to hit the small targets that the chess pieces presented, especially after his missed shot, Petty went with the only other form of offense he possessed. He'd honed his skills as an archer, but he'd also spent a good few years working as an apprentice for a mage. And he'd picked up a few little things, as he demonstrated by firing a small beam of holy magic at the nearest chess piece.

Meanwhile, still a bit miffed at the annoying betrayal and the leg stabbing, Idran decides the best way is quickly, before Keshin and Siolen can get too far from the other end of the portal. Thus, he goes for a Comet 2, though towards the back ranks of the chess pieces, so as not to smash any of his allies.